649 
M58 
opy 1 



PHILOSOI^HY 



WAR OF SECESSION, 



ILLUSTRATED BY 



HISTORICAL FACT.S. 



TOGETHER SHOWINQ 






\%%%h% ul l|i ©ttiutt. 



By JOHN WHITE, 



A Discharged Soldier of the 7 2d IlHnois Volunteers — the Chicago First 
Board of Trade Regiment. 



All conversation In heaven terminates in an idea of 'UoXiy ."— Sicedenhorg. 



CHICAGO: 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
At the Office of Uttkb & Peck, 154 Clark Street. 



1863 



Price Fifty Cents. 



i ffiti ixm i\t ^anks of i|t %xm^. 



PHILOSOPHY 



WAR OE SECESSION, 



ILLUSTKATED BY 



HISTORICAL FACTS, 



TOGETHER SHOWING 






II 



'id- 



Is 



i^ 



By JOHN WHITE, 



A Discharged Soldier of the 72d Illinois Voltuiteers — the Chicago First 
Board of Trade Regiment. 



^ 



o n^ 



All conversation in heaven terminates in an idea of XivM's ."—Swedenborg . 



/■^ 

(■^ U.S.A. 

^ CHICAGO: "^ " 
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 

At the Office of Uttbr & P^ck, 154 Clark Street. 

1863. 



iXh 



A-', 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S63, 

BY JOHN WHITE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 




CONTENTS 



PART FIRST. 

Birth of a new Political Idea at the Revolution of 1776— Scientific statement of its rational 
groundwork. 

PART SECOND. 

The Industrial the fundamental interest of a Commonwealth under a true system of Political 
Economy — Removal of the Slavery question to a new and entirely pacific ground of dis- 
cussion. 



PART THIRD. 

Dignity of Industrial life — Its bearing on the formation of individual character — Theological 
obstacles removed — A word of encouragement for soldiers in the army. 



PART FOURTH. 

Union is not Unity — The American Union destined to embrace a united people — How Unity 
is attainable — Darkest before day — Dawn of a new day of sevenfold splendor. 



j^iPi^Ei^iDi^:. 



A SOLDIER'S PRAYER. — Recorded as a Testimony to the Churches. 



PHILOSOPHY OF THE WAR. 



PART I. 

Birth of a new political Idea at tlie Revolution of 1776.— A scientific statement of its rational 

ground woi-Ic. 

Thomas Jefferson" was somewhat of an optimist. He had 
insight and a habit of looking forward to the future — quaUties as 
f.seful and necessary to the successful ai'chitect of an empire as 
to the thrifty husbandman of a plantation. In announcing to the 
world his celebrated doctrine of Equality, as set forth in the 
preamble to the Declaration of American Independence, he stated 
a truth not obvious in the letter, but one hidden in God, veiled to 
the eyes of all who were yet strangers to Divine Inspiration. It 
was an entirely new thought, very dimly if at all recognized in 
any system of political ethics then extant. It claimed for each 
and every individual of the human race a right, inseparable from 
his existence as a creature of God — a right to life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness, or the fulfillment of his destiny. It did 
more than this : it implied that life is communicated from the 
Creator to the creature — a theological truth, very imperfectly 
understood even at the present day. 

The new idea was revolutionary in all its tendencies, menacing 
the permanency of every despotic form of government then in 
existence, and proposing an entire reconstruction of all the forms 
and long-established usages of the civilized and uncivilized parts 
of the world. It may be said of Mr. Jefferson, as an architect, 
that "he builded better than he knew; " for it cannot be supposed 
that even he, the chief of sages and patriots of his time, could be 
aware of the fall import, the far-reaching tendency of his thought. 
Like all enunciators of new truths, his whole mind was taken 
possession of, and completely mastered by the idea, long before 
he could become, in the various details of its rationale^ a master 
of the idea. He was not in possesion of, but was possessed by, 



PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



the new thought. But he and his compatriots had quite enough 
to do in those early years of the Republic, without stopping to 
canvas theirjnew theory of government in all its manifold philo- 
sophic and scientific bearings. They were taxed to the utmost 
of their energies in securing for our country an independence of 
the British Crown and in beating back its powerful array and 
navy, which swarmed all over our land and infested our sea coast. 
The philosophy of their novel position before the world must be 
postponed for the more calm consideration of posterity. Thus it 
falls to the lot of the present generation to complete the work 
only begun at the first revolution. With the aid of mighty results 
accruing within the period of eighty-seven years of our practical 
experience added to the impetus then given to our people, we must 
accept the responsibility of the task now devolved upon us, or 
confess before all mankind that we are but the degenerate sons of 
a noble race of sires. 

The struggles of the first" revolution may be regarded as the 
parturition pains of the birth of our Republic, when was brought 
forth the infant body of the American Polity, which, at the ma- 
turity of its growth, would require to be clothed in an entire new 
costume or system of political economy adapted to the features 
and proportions of the new collective man. A system was de- 
manded which should regard in the first place, not the interests 
of any class of our citizens, whether aristocratic or democratic, 
but which, looking far beyond- these, should have reference to the 
Industrial interests of the whole i>eople as the one great interest, 
paramount to every other, and the fundamental interest of a Com- 
monwealth under a true system of political economy. Industry, 
as the source of national wealth only, demands this consideration 
from the economists; but when viewed from other and higher 
positions, it will be found to have a bearing upon the welfare of 
the human race so all-important as to establish and enforce its 
paramount claim upon the attention of every rational mind having 
the slightest claim to patriotism, philanthropy or religion. 

But before we enter upon a consideration of the several branches 
of our subject, it will not be out of place to premise a few brief 
remarks upon the doctrine of Equality, in order that its rational 
groundwork may at once be seen and admitted ; for it is a doc- 



WAR OP SECESSION. 



trine that furnishes the key to all that follows on this subject. 
We are treating of Unity as a science, and Equality is an indis- 
pensable pre-reqnisite to Unity, as we intend to show in this work. 
We said above, that Mr. Jefferson's idea was not obvious in the 
literal statement, but veiled under cover of other and higher truths 
not then understood, and but partially so even now. Of course 
no one in his senses ever dreamed that the doctrine of equality 
contemplated any such absurdity as the equal endowment of all 
persons in wealth or mental and physical qualities. Throughout 
the created universe there is to be found no such equality or same- 
ness as this. There are no two things — not even two blades of 
grass — that are exactly alike. Without variety, infinite variety, 
there could be no such thing as unity in creation ; and variety is 
as essential a condition to unity in man as it is in nature. 

The wonderful developments and acquisitions in every branch 
of human knowledge within the last half century, have put this 
whole subject within the grasp of science; so that the means of 
direct and positive knowledge are now as certain and accurate, 
and as rapid too, comparatively, as are the means of intercommu- 
nication by railroad and telegraph. To ignore the science of 
unity, therefore, is to turn a deaf ear to the majestic and stupend- 
ous harmonies of the universe, and to close one's eyes to every 
ravishing view of the three grand Unities, which, until now, have 
been held in reserve by a beneficent Providence, as a crowning 
gift and blessing to the human race. These three grand Unities 
are, the Unity of Man with Man, with Nature, and with God. 
This is the burden of our lofty theme. We find the guaranty of 
its fulfillment in the fact that Revelation and Science are hence- 
forth one and inseparable, bringing down heaven to earth, and 
lifting up earth to heaven. The blind are receiving sight, the ears 
of the deaf are being opened, and the dead are rising into new 
life. The Lord of the Universe is descending a second time to 
our earth, with power and great glory! 

It is a primary truth of the Christian verities, that the Lord is 
Life in Itseli?. " As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he 
given the Son to have life in himself" The literal terms in which 
this truth is expressed in Holy Writ may have a clouded aspect, 
but it is a " cloud" so radiant with Divine glory that it does not 



PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



obscure the grand central truth, the Divine Humanity, which is 
the very " key of knowledge," opening every inmost recess of 
Revelation and Science. The Lord is Life itself. Love and Wis- 
dom itself, Goodness and Truth itself. Consequently, all virtue 
and intelligence in men must be an emanation from Him, precisely 
as heat and light emanate frOm the sun. Nothing of these is 
man's own ; for he is a mere I'ecipient, having no real or personal 
property in them. His destitution of these qualities is complete 
and absolute ; so that in this fact we have the entire groundwork 
of the doctrine of Equality. All men are equal in this, that in 
and of themselves they are nothing and can do nothing. Hence 
all genuine worship must consist in rationally ascribing to its 
true Source every manifestation of goodness and truth that may 
be found in man — not at all in claiming a personal property in 
that which is p>roper to the Lord alone. The true worshipper will 
be careful to " Render unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's, 
and unto God the things that are God's." Until this is done, a 
man cannot fail to arrogate to himself an intrinsic superiority over 
his fellow mortals, or admit their essential superiority over himself. 
In the one case, he becomes proud, haughty, contemptuous, intol- 
erant, overbearing, despotic, cruel and tyrannical. In the other, 
he becomes meanly subservient, sycophantic, deceitful, treacherous, 
hypocritical and pusillanimous. He can have no rational grounds 
whereon to rest a true idea of human equality. 

In other parts of this work will be found further discussions of 
this important point, more fully illustrating the doctrine and its 
bearing in various directions, where the objections usually urged 
against it are examined and answered. Objectors, who invariably 
judge from mere appearances rather than from scientific data, are 
perplexed to understand how it can be possible that Life in its 
essential substance can be precisely the same in all individuals of 
the race, and yet different in form in each and every individual. 
They say that they cannot perceive how it is that the life of a 
notoriously wicked person can flow from the same pure Fountain 
as that of an amiable, upright and innocent individual. Their 
difiiculty lies in the fact that they do not regard life in its essence 
as flowing from a Fountain at all ; but they vainly imagine that it 
is somehow an inherent principle of vitality in man, the result or 



•WAR OF SECESSION". 



effect of his physical organization. Such indeed is the appearance, 
which has deluded the senses of as many physioligists as similar 
appearances have deceived the astronomers. It is well known 
that men of astronomical research formerly believed that the sun 
made a diurnal motion around the earth, instead of the earth's 
movement around the sun ; and accordingly all their deductions 
drawn from this erroneous first proposition must necessarily par- 
take of the original fallacy and become vitiated by it. Not until 
the days of Galilleo, Kepler and Newton was this grave error 
discovered, and the truth concerning it made to appear. Like 
some of the fixed stars, their light, swiftly as it travels, does not 
reach the earth so as to be visible to men for many thousands of 
years. 

So it is in regard to the sphere of life which flows forth from 
the Creator. Being in itself fluent, it must of necessity take the 
precise ybrm of the vessel into which it flows. The forms of the 
recipient vessels being different in each and every individual of 
the human race, we have accounted for the fact of an indefinite 
variety in the character and quality of the outward conditions of 
men, and an infinite unity in their inward substance. We have 
thus a reconciliation of the apparent contradiction, that all men 
are created equal, and at the same time each one is different from 
every other. 

But more will be said on this subject when we come to consider 
its application to re-formation and re-generation, where the rational 
ground of their necessity will also be brought into view. The 
equality and unity of man cannot be seen in advance of the several 
stages of reformation and regeneration through which the people, 
individually and collectively, are at the time on their way. 

The logic of the foregoing statement is now being taught in 
other than syllogistic forms. There is a " logic of events" forcing 
itself upon the attention of persons not heretofore accustomed to 
give heed to the logic of the schools, so that whether men will 
hear or whether they will forbear, the work now begun will be 
sasfeiy carried forward to a glorious consummation. 



dzM 



10 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



PART II. 

The Industrial the fundamental Interest of a Commonwealth under a true system of Political 
Economy — Removal of the slavery question to a new and entirely pacific ground of dis- 
cussion. 

An orator in Cincinnati, some years ago, eulogized in a lecture 
the character and public services of General Washington, in 
the course of which he ventured to apologize for some supposed 
defect of the great hero and statesman, on the ground of the nov- 
elty of his position, being the first one to occupy the presidential 
chair, and as such compelled to act without reference to precedent. 
In this the orator was at fault. Men do not ask for precedents to 
determine their course of action ; for he is less than a man who 
will only "tread in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor." 
The Source of all wisdom is as accessible to-day as it was yesterday, 
and is aa adequate to counsel on one momentous occasion as on 
another. The apology, then, only disparages the character of the 
hero it was intended to defend. The same reasoning is applicable 
to the poHtical economists who argue a want of precedent for 
placing the Industrial interests of our commonwealth in their true 
position, so as to take rank as the chief and fundamental of all 
others. Men in herds or tribes may, like sheep, follow the leadings 
of a bell-wether, and, like them, on being driven through a narrow 
pass, after the bell-wether has overleaped an obstacle in the pass 
and the obstacle has been removed, may each one take a leap into 
the air as if said obstacle still remained ; but rational men do not 
so. Man is not a mere animal. We have seen this fact of the 
natural history of the sheep used as an argument in behalf of 
aristocratic leaders of men. It may bo well enough for those 
who must have precedents to take that of the bell-wether, and to 
require of every sheepish follower that he jump exactly as his 
" illustrious predecessor" jumped before him. 

The exciting and fast-recurring events of the Revolution com- 
pelled our patriot fathers to rely upon their own resources, not- 



WAR OP SECESSION. . 11 



withstanding this propensity to follow in the beaten track of pre- 
cedent. All of their social and political antecedents had been on 
the side of a ruling aristocracy, or a clsss of men supposed to be 
qualified at birth for holding government offices, and therefore 
exempt by nature, or by fate, or something else, from the ordinary 
lot of the great multitude of their fellow men, of systematically 
pursuing some industrial calling. These were supposed to have 
rights and immunities peculiar to themselves as a class, and were 
endowed with exclusive privileges in relation to revenue, taxation, 
the hereditary transmission of property, etc., which did not and 
could not belong to the other class. All the frame-work of the 
great edifice of society had been put together with reference to 
this now exploded view of the social relations between man and 
man, and thus the Industrial interests of community were either 
left to regulate themselves as best they might, without the direct- 
ing aid of any great controlling principle of ethics, as was the 
case in the northern States, or these same interests were overborne 
altogether by a system of legislation in open violation of sound 
policy and of every ethical truth, as was the case in the southern 
section of the Union. Even the theology of the time fermented 
with that old leaven of the past, and the sacred pulpit itself was 
as much the bulwark of " exclusivism" as it should have been the 
fearless advocate of an impartial righteousness. 

Meanwhile the Republic continued to grow and expand its 
territorial proportions toward maturity, and the wealth and popu- 
lation of the country increased and multiplied beyond all parallel. 
Party spirit at an early period manifested itself, dividing the peo- 
ple, according to their various predilections, and arranging them 
under the banners of an aristocratic and a democratic party, con- 
testing stoutly with each other for the control of pubUc aifairs ; 
and thus the work of internal organization, local and general legis- 
lation, and the gradual and almost imperceptible interweaving of 
something akin to a system of political economy went on under 
the influence of two antagonistic principles, culminating at length, 
in the year 1861, in the great war of secession. 

It would perhaps be more strictly correct to say, that from the 
conflicting action of the two parties no system of political econ- 
omy was ever maturely considered or earnestly urged by eithei*. 



12 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



Certain it is, however, that the Industrial element of social and 
political prosperity never was recognized by either party as the 
fundamental of all other interests ; for, vyhile the people of the 
free States only incidentally encouraged the growth and expansion 
of this grand element, by refraining in their legislation to impose 
any direct or weighty burden upon the industrial portion of the 
population, they nevertheless permitted and even aided the people 
of the slave States to do that impolitic work for them. The con- 
sequence was, that, in the free States, Industry grew into power 
and respectability, by simply leaving it to assert its own claims, 
untrammeled by direct legal or statutory prohibitions ; while, in 
the slave States, that element was degraded below all the others, 
by the imposition of the most extreme legal disabilities upon 
the great majority of their laborers, reducing them and their pos- 
terity to absolute and perpetual slavery. This degrading bondage 
of the laborer, although hitherto confined to persons of African 
descent, would, if not suppressed, extend itself to the people of 
every race, until the whole industrial population of the country 
would be sunk to the same level, on the principle now ©penly ad- 
vocated by Southern politicians, that " capital must own the labor 
of the country." 

Here, then, we have the real question at issue in the present 
war. Stripped of all disguises it stands out clear and positive, 
that the conflict now waged between the North and the South is 
neither more nor less than this i Shall the entire industrial popu- 
lation of the country be freemen or slaves ? This is the point to 
be won or lost by the war of secession. Should the Southern 
Confederacy succeed in establishing an independent nation, its 
leaders will owe their success to the indifference which is felt by 
the leading minds of the Northern States as to whether freedom 
or slavery shall be the lot of the industrial masses of the people. 
Whosoever cannot see the truth of this statement has not discerned 
the real cause and object of the war. That there are multitudes 
of persons occupying high and responsible positions in the civil 
and military service of the United States who are indifferent on 
this subject, is too well known to admit of a doubt. The leaders 
of the rebellion at the South are well aware of the fact, and are 
making constant use of it in setting on foot political intrigaes and 



WAR OF SECKSSION. 



13 



in fomenting discords and divisions among unscrupulous politicians 
throughout the Northern and Western States, hoping thereby to 
interrupt if not to cripple the Union administration in a vigorous 
prosecution of the war, until by the aid of foreign intervention 
their claim to a separate nationality may be recognized. Let the 
South but succeed this far, and who can doubt the future course 
of its policy ? The turbulent, aggressive character of the slave 
power would never be quiet or at peace with a neighboring com- 
munity until its own insane policy was predominant over both. 
But we need not pursue the subject in this direction. We are to 
show a far diflferent destiny for the people of the American Union, 

There has been a vast amount of boasting done in this country 
over a supposed superiority of certain of our national ancestors 
to others, which deserves a passing notice. The people of New 
England, for instance, are fond of calling themselves descendants 
of the Pilgrims, while the Southern aristocrat feels a pride in 
having sprung from a more heroic lineage. Of course we cannot 
for a moment suppose that the descendants of the Puritans of 
England who landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, were in any 
way a superior race or caste of persons to the posterity of the 
Huguenots of France, who peopled Virginia and South Carolina. 
Our idea of equality, as already defined, surpersedes all eulogistic 
or invidious comparisons under this head, and leaves us free to 
pursue our philosophical researches without reference to merely 
personal distinctions of any kind. We thus avoid all reproaches, 
criminations and recriminations, which fanatical minds in the free 
States of the North and in the slave States of the South have 
mutually cast upon each other, while we proceed to discuss the 
bearing which slavery as a political institution exerts upon a com- 
monwealth, on the strictly scientific basis of a sound political 
economy. It is needful that the old ground of discussion be alto- 
gether abandoned, and a new one selected which shall exclude all 
personal considerations from intruding their pernicious presence 
forever hereafter. 

Political leaders both North and South have equally erred on 
this point. "All, like sheep, have gone astray," and all alike 
would continue to stray, were it not for the powerful crook and 
staff in the hand of the great Shepherd, who neither slumbers nor 



u 



PHILOSOPnY OF TIIK 



sleeps, nor abates one jot of His vigilance in obserying and pro- 
viding for the safety of His fold. But more under this head as 
we proceed. We need here only observe that it was indispensable 
for the enduring welfare of our comraon humanity that the prac- 
tical importance of the industrial element in a State, kingdom or 
empire, should be developed to such a degree, and at the same 
time its opposite be manifested, as to be seen and known by all 
men. Until this were done, it could not be possible to make intel- 
ligent and free choice of any system of economy, whether favorable 
or unfavorable to the fostering and protecting of that greatest of 
all economic interests. The time has fully come for men to learn 
the uses of evil, and how it is overruled for the advancement of 
the best interests of the human race. Evil is not the result of an 
accident or mistake on the part of the Creator. No more of it is 
permitted, however, than can be made subservient to the highest 
welfare of man. 

Thus is justified to our reason the ways of Providence in the 
permission of evil ; for it is thus only that man can be educated 
in the principles and practice of self-control, either as an individual 
or in a collective body. The great principle of self-denial, or self- 
control, which is a cardinal principle of the Christian religion, 
must first be established in the individual man, by his own consent, 
before it can be wrought into the framework of our political edi- 
fice, so as to give to it the form and proportions of a free govern- 
ment. This work has been done for the American people by the 
permission of the evil of slavery in one section of the Union, and 
by its partial restraint in another. The immensity of disadvantage 
and damage done to the industry and consequent prosperity of the 
country in the one case, and the benefits arising from even its 
partial restraint in the other, are now made apparent to all reason- 
able minds, so that henceforth the people must choose their course 
with reference to this matter. The decree of One far greater 
than the ancient king Canute has declared of the evil, " Thus far 
shalt thou come, and no farther." Its audacious wave shall not 
be permitted to wet the footstool of His everlasting throne. 

The President of the United States has been forced into his 
emancipation policy, not from choice on his part, that is, not so 
much from a rational conviction of its intrinsic righteousness, as 



WAB OP SECESSION. 15 



from its necessity as a war measure. But it matters little to any 
one but himself how the case is in his own mind. One thing is 
clear, namely, that the real animus of the war discloses itself as 
a contest for the complete degradation of the industrial element 
of the Republic on the part of the rebels, and for its elevation to 
its proper position on the part of all truly loyal citizens. This 
issue of the war may not be a logical conclusion from any distinct 
proposition made by either of the belligerent parties, but is a con- 
clusion forced upon each by the inexorable logic of events. 

Our view of the paramount importance of unfettered industry 
will not be deemed an exaggeration when its inherent dignity and 
the bearing it has on the formation of individual character shall 
have been duly considered. 



16 PHILOSOPHY OF THJS 



PART in. 

Dignity of Industriai;,"llfe — Its bearing on the formation of individual character — Theological 
obstacles removed — A word of encouragement to soldiers in the army. 

The philosophy that rises not above secondary causes, stopping 
short of the great First Cause, must of course be defective in all 
its derivations, and unable to disclose any true relation between 
cause and effect. So also, the logic that substitutes a minor for 
its major proposition must not only be lame in all its conclusions, 
but absolutely halt, incapable of advancing in any scientific direc- 
tion. Hence, if we would gain true views of the inherent dignity 
of Industry, and thus find its proper position in all human affairs, 
we must begin at the beginning. 

We therefore commence the examination of this branch of our 
subject with the axiom, that Useful Industry is co-operation 
WITH God. This will be evident on a very little reflection, so that 
it may be classed among the truths that Mr. Jefierson calls " self- 
evident;" that is, it is a truth seen by means of its own light, 
and takes its place among primary truths. 

Industry becomesj thus ennobled when it is performed from a 
principle of obedience to the Divine law. The law of the Deca- 
logue, or Ten Commandments, is said to be a transcript of the 
Divine Mind, a written expression of the Divine "Will and Divine 
Wisdom. This law is to be transcribed upon the mind of man, 
and become an expression also of his will and intelligence ; which 
is ejffected only in so far as he makes it the rule of his life in all 
things. Let him begin with any part, or any one of the require- 
ments of the law, and it will be carried on in him until the whole 
law is " written on his heart," and the individual becomes an image 
and in the likeness of God. This law, in the complex, expresses 
good will toward all men, and in each one of its ten precepts has 
reference to some one particular form of good will. In the last 
prohibition, which is a summary of the whole law, covetousness, 
or a desire to possess the goods, natural and spiritual, of our 



WAR OF SECESSION. 17 



neighbor, is forbidden ; implying a perfect contentment with one's 
own lot, the sure safeguard against fraudulent dealing, or false 
witness of any kind, as touching the property or reputation of 
another, while the act of stealing is not only implied, but is ex- 
plicitly inhibited in a distinct precept of the law. 

Now if any person will but set about the diligent pursuit of 
some useful avocation for which he is fitted, no matter what that 
useful branch of industry may be, governing his conduct by these 
three latter precepts of the Divine law, who cannot see that in so 
doing he becomes a co-operat( r with God ? Yea, in this co-ope- 
ration he also becomes conjoined to God, and that so intimately 
and finally so perfectly, that he becomes one with God, and the 
Atonement (At-One-ment) is made in the case of such an individ- 
uah In this case God and man are one, and a new witness is 
added to the hosts who testify concerning the Unity of God and 
Man, or the Divine Humanity. But of this hereafter. 

Here we would ask, can there be a more exalted dignity con- 
ferred upon man than to be admitted as a co-operator with God 
and thus intimately conjoined to the great Eternal ! What more 
potent influence can be brought to bear on the formation of char- 
acter in the individual mind ? 

From this elevation of view, this high mountain-top which 
rears its lofty crest from the midst of the vast plain over which 
our subject extends, may be seen somewhat of the important po- 
sition the element of Industry occupies, not only in the political 
economy of a commonwealth, but in the Divine economy through- 
out the government of the human race. We perceive that it is 
made a means of conjoining the creature to the Creator, and of 
establishing that covenant relation symbolized in the Word by the 
covenant made with Abraham, whose posterity were delivered 
from a degrading bondage in Egypt and conducted under the 
Divine guidance to their promised land, to take a position among 
the nations of the earth. 

The relation between the Creator and the creature must neces- 
sarily be that of a covenant, or a stipulation for the performance 
of certain acts on the part of the creature, before any distinct 
consciousness can be communicated to him by the Creator, that 

3 



18 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



the co-operation and conjunction spoken of can have an existence. 
In this view of it we have the highest and strongest reasons, the 
best possible argument, why the element of Industry should re- 
ceive from a Christian community the most complete enfranchise- 
ment from those onerous burdens imposed upon it by heathen 
nations of the past, and should by no means be oppressed by an 
utter and permanent degradation of the working people into a 
condition of abject bondage. For who can resist the conviction 
that such conduct on the part of a community professing the 
Christian name must certainly invite an interference of the Al- 
mighty to restrain so gross a perversion, profanation, and even 
blasphemy of the Divine character ! Who cannot see that it were 
infinitely better that entire nations should become extinct by 
wars of extermination, or any other calamity, rather than that the 
most potent means of advancement and elevation of the human 
race be obstructed with so direful an obstacle ? For it robs the 
Almighty of his Divine attributes, as the sole possessor of all 
goodness and truth, and claims that a certain class of men have a 
property, a personal property, in whatever of virtue and intelli- 
gence they may have received ; prompting them to deceive them- 
selves with the vain conceit that they are intrinsically superior to 
others in whom the same degree of virtue and intelligence has not 
been developed. When this is effected in the human mind, of 
course the way is open for the intrusion of every vilest propensity 
to which man can be exposed. Like the broken down wall of a 
garden, it invites an entrance of the brute creation to the speedy 
destruction of everything of refined culture. 

Are men afraid of death? Why do they shrink appalled from 
its near approach ? Death is not the greatest of calamities. It 
is not a calamity at all ; but is one of our most beneficent friends. 
Why, then, should it be feared or even lamented ? Those who 
do so have not yet been emancipated from that dominion of the 
outward senses, signified by the bondage of Egypt. They have 
been erroneously taught to regard the phenomenon death as "the 
king of terrors," when in truth it is no more than a phantom. 
The early Christian disciples were never disturbed by a thought 
concerning it. Search the New Testament through, and you will 
find that they gave it not the slightest consideration ; for, having 



WAR OF SECESSION. 19 



seen the risen Lord, they ceased not their jubilant hallehijahs over 
the resurrection. It is those who make of Chi'istianity simply a 
" profession" that keep up such a great ado about death, such a 
wailing over the carnage of battle-fields, and are continually 
aifrighting themselves and others with what they call " the horrors 
of war." 

Yet there is a death to be really feared by all who are desirous 
of possessing a sound mind — a living death, which leaves its 
victim in a state of insensibility to gross outrages and gigantic 
wrongs daily and hourly perpetrated upon mankind in the garb 
of religion and under the cloak of civil government. It is that 
destitution of sympathy in the common joys and sorrows of mankind 
which leaves one indifferent toward every really noble enterprise 
for advancing the permanent welfare of the human race, while he 
is ready to go into spasms of affright at the mere transit of men 
from a lower to a higher and better state of existence. This is 
the only death for which a wise person has any concern. Every 
true soldier knows how to put a proper estimate upon the fallacy 
above referred to ; for he gave up to his country and its righteous 
cause his natural life, with all its worldly issues, the moment he 
put his name to the muster roll of his regiment. In this respect 
he has greatly the advantage of those w^ho profess a belief in the 
resurrection and yet cling with cowardly tenacity to the pitiful 
and "beggarly elements of this world." Whatever else maybe 
said to the disparagement of his morals, the genuine soldier is free 
from a craven spirit, and values not his life above the honor and 
devotion he owes to his country. 

One word more, by the way, concerning a defective philosophy 
spoken of on page 16. That philosophy not only proceeds without 
any direct, rational or scientific reference to the great Fiest Cause, 
who is intimately present in all secondary and derivative causes 
as well as in the whole series of effects flowing therefrom, but it 
also ignores the entire realm of ends, thereby leaving out of view 
the real uses of philosophical knowledge. Of what use is a knowl- 
edge of mere facts or eftects and their proximate causes, without 
at the same time discerning the end which both causes and efiects 
are tending to subserve? At best, such philosophical lore can 
only minister to an already overgrowai pride of intellect in men 



20 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



and thus be powerless in the promotion of that cardinal virtue, 
which, if unattained, leaves all other attainments valueless — the 
virtue of a genuine humility. 

But, with the opening of yet another of the seven seals set upon 
the Divine Word, there is opened another and a higher realm in 
the great domain of human thought, and philosophy has gained 
the accession of a perception of ends to her knowledge of causes 
and effects. It is as if a new heaven, whose existence had been 
entirely unknown to man, had descended to the earth, flooding 
the world with a vast sea of light never before experienced, and 
tinging every object on which it glows with its own radiant hues 
of purple and of gold. We must therefore change our definition 
of philosophy from " a knowledge of effects and their causes," and 
write it thus: Philosophy is a perception of ends, which, work- 
ing through causes, proceed to the production of effects which in 
turn themselves become producing causes. This supplies to phi- 
losophy its needed third term, making it complete as a trinity in 
unity. It now becomes a "candlestick," — one of the mystic seven 
seen by John in his first and most gorgeous vision, in the midst of 
which he beheld the Lord as the ever-living Word, " whose coun- 
tenance was as the sun shining in his strength." (Rev. ch, 1.) 

With this newly added light to the world, men will not be slow 
in learning what disposition they shall make of anything and 
everything that hinders the elevation to its true position of that 
grandest element of human advancement — Useful Industry. 

"This may be all true enough," says an objector; "but men 
do not believe in God, and herein lies the difficulty." 

Why do not men believe in God? we ask, 

" Because of their ignorance, not having been correctly taught." 

Exactly so ; and this is the first work to be done. Men will not 
cease to grapple one another by the throat so long as they are in 
a state of practical atheism. 

" Would you teach a new religion ? " 

No, I would do nothing of the kind. 

" What then do you mean by teaching men correctly?" 

I mean, to teach the Christian religion truly. 

" But most people will not submit to have their religious senti- 
ments interfered with." 



WAR OF SECESSION, 21 



I do not propose to interfere with the religious sentiments of 
any one. The religious sentiment is one thing, and a theological 
theory is another and very different thing. The religious senti- 
ment resides in the inmost of the soul, somewhat as an inhabitant 
resides in a house, while a theological theory may be represented 
by tlie house itself. If, in passing along the wayside, I observe a 
house, I may examine its plan, its architectural proportions, and 
its adaptation to accommodate the inhabitants, without in any way 
interfering with or disturbing the inmates, if it have any. 

"I am not accustomed to such hair-splitting distinctions." 

Is the difference between a person and a house a "hair-splittino-" 
distinction ? 

" Not exactly, perhaps ; but still, people are not apt to observe 
so closely, especially in regard to theology and religion." 

That is true ; but there is an urgent necessity that this work be 
now begun. We have already intimated that the theological pulpit 
had long ago become a bulwark for every foul error that disfigures 
our common life. This must be made to appear plainly to the 
common mind before the enchantment of its syren son^ can be 
broken, and the religious sentiment emancipated from captivity to 
a fiilse theology. To do this efficiently, new means and methods 
are to be resorted to for arousing attention in the slumberino- peo- 
ple. They must be addressed directly by persons of their own 
class and rank in all the walks of life, in opposition, if necessaiy 
to the learned dignitaries who have assumed the place of teachers 
and have grown fat and lethargic in high-salaried offices for mis- 
leading and blinding the common understanding. Whoever can 
aid in this first necessary work will be doing more toward con- 
quering a permanent peace for our country and the world than all 
the armies that can be sent to the battle-field, were they millions 
where now there are but thousands. 

"If this is really your conviction, then you owe it to yourself, 
as well as to all mankind, to make it known as speedily and as 
widely as possible." 

So I have determined, and accordingly have changed my field 
of action and the instruments of warfore from leaden bullets to 
leaden types. I must continue to follow the camp, however, for 
I have therein many friends who will hear what I have to say, 



nilLOSOPET OF THE 



and who will reflect and act upon what they hear, in view of their 
own approaching change of position from soldiers to peaceful 
industrial citizens. 

" But, surely, you cannot mean to teach religion or theology, or 
whatever you may please to call it, to the army ! How would 
you address such multitudes of rude and profane scoffers at all 
the sanctities of both religion and theology ? I fear that your zeal 
out-runs your knowledge on this particular point. Is it not so?" 

This is the very error of the time! Want of faith in God im- 
plies want of faith in man. The one must always be commensur- 
ate with the other. Show me a person who undervalues man, by 
denying his capacity of rising, under favorable surroundings, to 
the highest attainable position, and I will show you one whose 
faith in God is as impracticable as is his distrust in his fellow man, 
neither more nor less. The truth, plainly stated, is as acceptable 
to the mind of the unlearned person, no matter vi'hat may be his 
social position, as the varied hues of light are agreeable to the eye. 
Besides, I am sure that you are wrong in supposing that the rank 
and file of the array are " scoffers" at sacred things beyond those 
who occupy other and higher positions in life. 

Here the writer was interrupted in his work, by the entrance of 
a Chaplain of the arioy, in the character of colporteur; distributing 
tracts, religious papers and other reading matter to the soldiers. 
I was then in Overton Hospital, city of Memphis, Tenn., suffering 
under debility from long-continued disease of the bowels. On his 
entrance 1 offered him the only chair in the room, and received 
his cordial greeting, when a colloquy ensued, substantially to the 
following effect: 

The Chaplain, after several interrogatories as to who I was, 
whence I came, the character of ray illness, etc., and informing 
me who and what he was, asked how I liked the life of a soldier? 
I replied that I was a candidate for discharge from the service, on 
the ground of disability, that the medical examining committee 
had reported favorably to my discharge, had sent the documents 
for that purpose to headquarters, and I was awaiting the order of 
the commanding general, when I should at once return to my 
former avocations as a citizen. 



WAR OF SECESSION. 23 



Chaplain — I hope you may return uncontaminated by the many 
immoral influences of the camp. I suppose you must be aware 
that there is a fearful amount of depravity in military life which 
endangers the soul's safety of all who are exposed to its influence. 

Writer — I have just risen (pointing to the manuscript on the 
table) from an attempt to refute or at least palliate the sweeping 
charge of depravity, so often and I think so inconsiderately, made 
against soldiers generally. 

C. — You would not loalliate or excuse sin ? 

W. — No ; but I cannot regard as evidence of the soul's deprav- 
ity much that is stigmatized under the name of sin. 

C. — Are not rudeness of manners, profanity and drunkenness 
evidences of depravity? 

W. — They are evidences of immaturity of character and a want 
of external and internal culture; but do not necessarily attach to 
or taint the soul. They are offensive to the eye and ear of culti- 
vated people, and are in themselves unjustifiable; but if I have 
i-ead the New Testament aright, they do not peril the safety of 
the soul. 

C. — Does not thp practice of immorality peril the safety of the 

soul ? ; , 

W. — Not necessarily; if it does, who can be saved? It perils 
only the safety of a very poor code of morals. 

C. — I have not time to discuss the subject; but it appears that 
you are an apologist of sin. 

W. — I regret that your -want of time will not permit me to 
show that I would be an advocate of sinners, not an " accuser of 
the brethren," nor yet an apologist of sin. 

(7._My duties require that my visits be short; let me assure 
you, however, that the soul's safety can only be secured through 
the atoning blood of Christ. By his stripes we are healed. 

W. — Those words involve a great truth, but one which I am 
prepared to show is much misunderstood and greatly perverted. 
They are often used as the merest cant; often as cabalistic terms 
to stifle thought rather than to open the understanding of the 
willing listener. "By his stripes we are healed." That is, when 
we suffer by or with him, we are healed by or with the stripes he 
received ; not otherwise. But the prevailing theological notion is 



24 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



a most complete and thorough falsification and perversion of this 
great truth. What theologians mean by the atonement is, not 
that the majestic sufferings of the Christ are to become our suffer- 
ings, in order that we may be regenerated as He was glorified, 
which is the grandest truth of the gospel. No, they mean nothing 
of this kind. But they do mean to have it believed, not under- 
stood — for it is the grossest violation of every law of the human 
understanding — they would have it believed that He suffered in 
our stead, or as a substitute for us, whereby we are made exempt 
from suffering ! Who cannot see that this is a total abandonment 
of the whole Christian ground, renderins the Divine Word of no 
effect whatever in the regeneration of our fallen humanity? 

What these theologians mean by suffering deserves here to be 
particularly noted. They have not the remotest idea that Christian 
suff'ering consists in a manly bearing of the cross over every selfish 
desire that would lead one to seek for a better lot in this world or 
any other than is vouchsafed to the common lot of mankind by a 
perfectly just, impartial and infinitely good and wise God. They 
have no such exalted thought concerning the sufferings of the 
Lord. But, instead of this, their idea is prompted by a fear that 
some iwinxG punishment may befall the unjust, ungenerous, craven 
wretches who would shift the penalty of their misdeeds from their 
own to the shoulders of some one who would act as Xhn'w substitute 
in receiving the chastisement due to wickedness of all kinds, which 
they make synonymous with the sufferings of the genuine disciple 
of a true Christian faith ! Can there be a grosser perversion of 
the human mind than this ! 

My visitor, the Chaplain, could not remain to hear me through, 
but bade me a "good day, sir," in the midst of my harrangue, 
without leaving so much as a Tract for my benefit. This scene 
occurred on Tuesday, January 13, 1863. 

I have recorded the foregoing dialogue with the Chaplain for 
the especial benefit of my soldier friends, who will be sure to hear 
the Chaplain's part of it repeated hereafter for the thousandth 
time, as they come in contact with clergymen, either in or out of 
the array. They will bear in mind that it is a photograph likeness 
of one of that class of persons who can see nothing in the life 
and character of the soldier but evidences of depravity, and who 



AVAR OF SECESSIOls'. 25 



persist in keeping out of view those sterling virtues which are the 
real characteristics of every true soldier. Failing to recognize 
these, they approach hira with a patronizing air of condescension, 
which speaks as plainly as words can speak their thought, that a 
great gulf of separation exists between their own sanctimonious 
selves and the profane object they are addressing. This exhibi- 
tion of clerical superiority, this display of a reverend fullness of 
sanctity, is instantly and keenly perceived and rightly interpreted 
by the unpretentious soldier, whose most conspicuous characteris- 
tic consists in that thorough abandon which shows that he is not 
contemplating his own worthiness, or measuring himself by the 
stature of any one else. His natural, unassumed humility is his 
shield and guardian in this case, protecting him from the intrusion 
of feelings of indignation and contempt which might otherwise 
inflame his spirit and prompt a fierce resentment in his bosom to- 
ward his proud superior ; and the soldier, therefore, can well afford 
to treat with seeming deference and respect the exacting claim of 
the clergyman, which from any one else would not fail to invoke 
a strong but not very elegant expression of the estimate in which 
he holds pretenders generally. 

It is not surprising, however, that the clerical profession should 
permit their vision of the soldiers' virtues to be constantly eclipsed 
by what they imagine are his permanent vices. It is not a matter 
of wonder that they cannot discern any good in a brother, when 
that which constitutes the very highest human good is altogether 
unrecognized by them as such. Having discarded from their 
theology the practical use of the entire series of virtues summed 
up in the one term " suffkking," as briefly hinted above, it is not 
to be expected that these can be made available for u'^e in ordinary 
social intercourse or in their habitual methods of thought. For 
these reasons we are prepared to find them pilfering — no, that is 
not the term — robbing their neighbor of his honestly acquired 
possessions in the form of the better qualities of manliood, and 
assigning to him degrading positions and qualities which they 
themselves will by no means accept oi' confess. Hence it is, that 
they can find nothing to commend or admire in the man who vol- 
untarily leaves a comfortable home, endearing social relations and 
a lucrative business, to accept the privations and dangers of the 

4 



26 PHILOSOPHY OP THE 



camp, the march and the battle-field, for a paltry pittance per 
month as compensation. In all this they discern nothing of the 
spirit of self-sacrifice, which is the very essential feature of the 
Christian religion, a direct emanation from our Lord himself; or 
when told by others that such is the true state of the case, they 
make light of it, doubtless because of the light and trivial estimate 
they put upon the Divine virtue itself. Yet this exalted quality 
is frequently found in the soldier, aye, is found more or less in all 
of them, mixed up or surrounded, it may be, with rudeness, profanity 
and drunkenness, in many instances. Now neither the virtues 
nor the vices here spoken of are to be fastened upon the individual 
as his own by any enlightened Christian. He has no more of 
property in the one than in the other of them. The former is 
Divine; the latter is infernal; while the individual is and must be 
a subject acted upon by both, without making himself identical 
with either. They ai'e two opposing forces between the constant 
play of which he finds equilibrium or a perfect spiritual freedom, 
in which he may advance to any desired state of perfection and 
purity of life. But let him halt in the persuasion that the virtues 
aforesaid are his oitm, and not from the Lord, and he necessarily 
dwindles into a Pharisee of the first water, devoutly stretching forth 
bis hands in the great temple of humanity, and in the presence of 
the congregated human race shamelessly "thanks God that he is 
not as other men," notwithstanding that sort of Divine praise 
was ruled out of the courts of heaven by our Lord nearly two 
thousand years ago. Should he imagine himself identified with 
the evil influences, on the other hand, he becomes a devil, giving 
himself up a willing subject of every enormity that can degrade a 
human creature, and there is no help for him. He cannot fight 
manfully the great battle of life, because he is dominated by a 
foreign force over which he has no- control, and under which he 
cannot even so much a conceive of such a thing as his own spirit- 
al freedom. 

• Yet this is the great warfare of human life into which man is 
to be initiated in order to bis endow^ment with a majestic heroism 
worthy of his Divine origin — a warfare in which he will be purged 
of every, impurity, when all incongruous vices which now envelope 
the life within, as rude husks envelope the ear of corn, shall one day 



WxYR OF SECESSIOX. 



be removed, leaving only the fully ripened grain exposed to view 
in all its golden beauty. Talk no more to the soldier, then, such 
raisei-able twaddle as he has been hearing about the " horrors of 
war," or the " depravity of the camp." 

If our clergymen would but hold themselves susceptible of 
learning the truth and making themselves useful in teaching others, 
they would not fail to recognize the latent virtues of which we 
have been speaking as the very material on which they are to 
work. They would recognize it as divinely provided for their 
especial purpose, and would be enabled to use it as the Master 
himself used the "five loaves and two fishes," in the miraculous 
feast, where the multitude of five thousand people were fed to ful- 
ness and had an abundance lett. They would learn that goodness 
and truth, such as we have shown to be discoverable in all men, 
and which are divinely represented by the "loaves and fishes" in 
the sacred parable, are susceptible of infinite augmentation and 
increase, as must be every part and particle of the Infinite Word. 
They would learn that goodness and truth, although the least 
conspicuous substances in the universe, are nevertheless the most 
potent forces therein, constantly active with creative power, and 
infinitely more subtle in action than any of the material agencies 
of heat and light, or the electric and magnetic currents, which 
cease not their constant play throughout the vast laboratory of 
creation. They would learn that goodness and truth, conjoined 
in the human mind so as to act as one, is nothing less than Omni- 
potence itself — the very Emanuel, or God with us — whose benign 
Presence is revealed to those only who are of a humble and con- 
trite spirit, conducting every one Avho is willing to be led thereby 
to those eternal mansions of bliss, " where the wicked cease from 
troubling, and the Aveary are at rest." 

And now, my brave companions in arms, with whom I have 
shared the pleasures and pains of military life for a short time past, 
permit your old comrade to remind you, as one by one your terms 
of service expire, and you are returning to your former industrial 
avocations, that there is open before you a glorious future, and that 
you are pre-eminently prepared by the antecedents of your lives 
to enter upon its grand career and rise with the rising life that is 
now being communicated to man on earth, until you are enabled 



28 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



to perceive within yourselves that you are, each one of you, units 
in the great creation of God, having a right to a seat at the table 
of life's grand feast now spread and prepared for all human kind, 
and most especially for those of humble pretensions. Heed not 
the current falsehood that you are but " food for powder," and 
worthy only " to stop a bullet." Remember that you bear within 
you the image of God, and that His estimate of your worth is the 
only estimate worth caring for. You have been trained to indus- 
trial habits, and these will make your advance easy and rapid to 
to that state of life in which you will recognize yourselves, and be 
recognized by others, as children of the one only God, whom He 
will have " dwell together in unity." 



WAR OF SECESSION. 29 



PART IV. 

Union Is not Unity — The American Union destined to embrace a united people — How Unity is 
attainable — Darkest before day — Dawn of a new day of sevenfold splendor. 

Man is ci*eated to be made. The greatest possible mistake we 
are capable of committing is to identify man with his natural 
conditions, to shut him up in nature, and to hold him subject to 
what is termed "the laws of nature." The genesis only of man 
begins in nature; but this genesis necessitates an exodus thence, 
a career forward to a point of destination in which nature shall 
yield to bim unlimited supremacy and submit to him in all things 
as her royal lord and master. 

Let us be careful, in looking into this destiny of man, to avoid 
falling into the theological abyss of predestination ; but let us not 
in discarding the false theory of predestination dismiss all consid- 
eration of the grand theme of human destiny. Men may quarrel 
as much as they will with the order of creation ; but that remains 
unalterable, and it were wise in us to accept it as it stands — not 
by adopting a stoical philosophy and thus resigning ourselves to 
an inert and indifferent submission to what are falsely believed to 
be " decrees of fate," whether found in that philosophy or in an 
equally stolid theology — but by humble and persevering effort 
seek until we find the true order, ask until it is given, and knock 
until the door of admission to the grand Science of Unity opens 
for our entrance into that " Temple not made with hands." With 
an earnest faith and trust in God the work will be made easy; 
without that, impossible. We must begin at the beginning. 
What must be thought of the sanity of a person who should com- 
mence to search for a solution of the mysteries of creation without 
first making an acquaintance with the Creator? Or who shall 
explain the character and quality of a piece of mechanism so well 
as the Master Mechanic himself? 

" God is His own interpreter, 
And He will make it plain." 



30 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



There have been teachers among men, not a few, who supposed 
that unity in human affairs is attainable by a process somewhat 
similar to that required for the organization of a company for 
manufacturing or other purposes, and that the methods of harmo- 
nious action could be as accurately pre-arranged by certain leading 
minds as a board of directors could determine the percentage on 
a given number of shares of capital stock, at an annual settlement 
of the company's accounts. They failed in their aims and efforts 
by failing to recognize the fact that unity must be the outgrowth 
of a sentiment or principle within the soul — ^a spontaneous flowing 
forth into the thought, speech and action of the individuals com- 
prising the commune, of a living force — not the result of a strict 
adherence to the "constitution," or of any other outward observ- 
ance whatever. It is a kingdom that comes not by observation, 
but is already within us, awaiting the proper period or condition 
of mankind for its manifestation in the order of our natural life. 
It can no more be brought about by the adoption of plans devised 
by human genius, than the crystallization of the immense mass of 
rocks which form the substratum of our globe conld be so effected. 
The sentiment of unity is a spiritual substance, and therefore can 
never be brought under the dominion of nature or subject to any 
of the methods of natural action. 

A recognition of th'ese important facts relieves the mind of the 
believer from all doubts, cares and perplexities concerning the 
future, which otherwise would accumulate to an intolerable mental 
burden, disqualifying a person for the enjoyment of any firm trust 
or even hope of a better condition of humanity than that with 
which we are at present surrounded. We have only to learn the 
truth in order to enter a state of quietude and perfect repose in 
relation to the whole subject of human destiny. We have but to 
believe in God, to enter into everlasting rest and peace. A ques- 
tion was once put to the great Master from the multitude of eager 
inquirers with which he was surrounded, to this eflect : " What 
shall we do, that we might work the works of God ? Jesus an- 
swered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye 
believe on him whom he hath sent." {John vi: 28.) And this is 
the first and the only work that is required at our hands. The 
great work of unity is accomplished in the Lord. We have only 



WAR OF SECESSION. 31 



to open the inspired volume of The Word and read it in every 
burning and shining line. To this end is all the testimony we have 
to ofter. It is of little consequence where we begin, or in what 
order we pursue the investigation. The "one thing needful" is a 
teachable disposition and temper — a sense of wcmt on our part is 
the only qualification that is required. The greater the destitution 
in point of learning, intellectual attainments, or even of what are 
termed " good morals," the more readily shall those wants be sup- 
plied, and the more rapidly and thoroughly shall the humble ap- 
plicant be initiated in all the grand arcana which make resplendent 
with Divine glory the living Temple of Unity. 

The written Word is embodied in natural imagery, in such a 
manner as that its spiritual substance may be made apparent to 
our apprehension in tlie material forms of its expression. For 
instance, it is written of the Lord that he is the light of the world. 
By this word light we do not think of the sun's natural rays, ex- 
cept in so far as these serve to image forth an idea of spiritual' 
light or the Divine Wisdom. The mind perceives intuitively that 
spiritual light is here spoken of, and that the natural term is used 
simply as a medium for communicating to the mind an idea of tlie 
quality of spiritual light. The unity of creation makes the natural 
image an exact expression of a spiritual substance; for light sub- 
serves precisely the same ends and uses in the world of nature 
that wisdom does in the world of mind or spirit. The same uni- 
versal law of order rules in both worlds, with the diiference only 
that it operates naturally in the world of nature, but spiritually in 
the world of mind. The perfect harmony of relation between the 
two distinct spheres of creation which makes the one an exact 
expression of the other is founded on that principle of unity which 
joins together as one the individual soul and body. We have but 
to apply this principle to the Word in general and in all its parts, 
and to the works of nature generally and particularly, and we may 
perceive the unity of nature and revelation, which shall serve to 
introduce the student to a view of the whole subject of Unity, in 
the immensity of its Divine gi-andeur, and conduct him through 
an infinity of particulars which testify, confirm and illustrate the 
Unity of God and Man in Nature, making it an already accom- 
plished work of creation, aw^aiting only his recognition and ac- 



32 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



ceptance as an inheritance to be entered upon, possessed and 
enjoyed forever. 

These things being so, and so very few inyited guests coming 
forward to partake of the divinely prepared feast before spoken of, 
it may afford instruction to trace the causes which have been pro- 
ductive of that state of unbelief, apathy and indifference toward 
the truth, which now characterize so large a portion of the people. 
We have unions in abundance — religious, political, commercial, 
financial, social, matrimonial — all sorts of unions, indeed, but not 
unity. Let us see if we cannot discover an adequate cause for all 
the discordant commotions that are now shaking terribly the earth, 
arraying man in deadly hostility against his fellow man, and con- 
verting into implacable foes the once apparently harmonious mem- 
bers of the same household. It is found in that lapsed condition 
of the Christian church, designated by a distinguished theologian 
at the East as the " Suspense of Faith." Here is found the real 
cause of every trouble that is now rending asunder our social and 
political edifice, and causing fear and consternation to prevail in 
every breast unfortified by a genuine faith in the Lord. 

A ti'ue faith was not a distinguishing feature of the Christian 
church even in its early stage of infancy. As the Master then 
said, " I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear 
them now," a non-receptive condition of the general mind of man 
was alluded to, which was to be looked after and divinely prepared 
for clearer and more direct instruction than could then be commu- 
nicated. The interval between that period and the present has 
been improved for this purpose, so that " all things at the present 
day stand ready and prepared, and await the light." Another 
advent of the Lord was promised when this preparation could be 
completed, and accordingly the Divine Spirit is now inflowing into 
every mind that can be induced to offer hospitable reception to 
the heavenly Guest, who says, " I will come in and sup with them, 
and they with me." If, in our critical examination of certain 
theological tenets that we deem grossly erroneous, we may seem 
to reflect harshly upon them, let us not be misunderstood as indulg- 
ing the slightest feeling of ill will toward any person whatever 
who may happen to have been indoctrinated in the error or errors 
which may be alluded to. Although we speak of theologians, we 



WAR OF SECESSION. 33 



would be understood as referring to their theology, and not at all 
to themselves personally. We have no prejudices to maintain 
against clergymen as a class. On the contrary, we cherish a most 
profound respect toward them as such, and are happy to acknowl- 
edge among their number many warm personal friends. Let us 
be understood, then, that in speaking of the theologian, we make 
not the slightest allusion to the man. 

Doctrinal theology had no existence in the earlier days of the 
Christian church. It was not until the time of Arius, in the third 
century, that a council of bishops was held at Nice, to form a 
creed as a refutation of the heresies propagated by said Arius in 
relation to the divinity of the Lord. The doctrine of the Trinity 
was an effort to make a scientific statement of the Divine mode 
of existence. But Science was yet too youns: and feeble in those 
days to give such clear expression to thoughts of that character 
as to place them beyond the pale of controversy. Besides, it was 
then customary in most literary productions to make use of terms 
in a purely representative sense, especially when treating on a 
subject that transcends the lower plane of the human understand- 
ing. Thus that which was originally intended to be a statement 
of the truth concerning the Divine Trinity, by using the term 
"persons" as representative of certain qualities or attributes, be- 
came susceptible of a very different signification from what it had 
in the minds of those who penned that article of faith. In process 
of time the original sense of the doctrine was changed entirely 
from the idea of a Trinity to that of a Tri- Personality in God, 
or God existing in three distinct persons. This erroneous idea 
became prevalent among theologians, who made the entire system 
of doctrines now received as orthodox conformable to that primary 
and fundamental fallacy, so that every truth of the Christian reli- 
gion is thereby falsified and perverted. So the matter stands at 
the present moment, and the world is groping in darkness from an 
extinguishment of light in the church. This state of things was 
divinely foreseen and provided for. It is foretold in many places 
in the Word, and most pointedly in chapter xviii. of the book of 
Revelation. In that chapter, and elsewhere in the Word, a false 
church is treated of under the representative form of a desolated 
and destroyed city, while the true church is represented as " the 

5 



34 PHILOSOPHY OP THE 



holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 
heaven," whose beauties and glories are described as surpassing 
the powers of mere mortal comprehension. This latter will be 
found in Revelation, chapters xxi. and xxii. 

With darkness in the Church, how is it possible that there can 
be liirht in the State councils? When the fountain of intelligence 
is polluted, how can pure water be drawn from derivative streams ? 
When it is known that the work of public instruction in this 
country, in common schools, academies, seminaries, colleges and 
universities, has mostly been under the direction of theologians, 
whose views and sentiments are described on the preceding page, 
it will not be possible to avoid tracing the general declension of 
the public mind in relation to religion and sound morals to its 
proper source. Hence it is that our public men have permitted 
the great enormity of chattel slavery to grow lip into an institution 
in this land consecrated to human freedom, and so great an outrage 
committed against the industrial principle through which alone a 
people can rise and advance to a state of permanent peace and 
prosperity. In these facts we have summed up the whole philoso- 
phy of the plagues with which we have been visited, and which 
have culminated in a disruption of our political union and hostile 
array of our citizens on the field of slaughter and carnage. 

Let it not be supposed, however, that the great principle for 
which we are contending is disparaged only by the slave system 
of the Southern States. Although that is the most complete 
degradation to which the industry of a country can be reduced, 
it should be borne in mind that this same slavery system is involved 
in every species of oppression to which the laborer is or may be 
subjected ; and not only so, but also in every case of failure or 
neglect on the part of our public authorities to surround with 
proper safeguards the interests of the industrial population, so as 
to secure to them a just remuneration for their labor and an open 
door of advancement for the humblest individual of them all to 
the highest social position to which any citizen of the State may 
arise. Let us be true to ourselves in this matter ; for if we are 
not, the day will surely overtake us when we also shall be found 
waging an unholy warfare against the best of governments, with 
far less excuse for such conduct than our present adversaries have 



"WAR OF SECESSION. 



35 



for theirs. Let us look forward to a full development of principles 
involved in the motives or ends of the action of the present hour, 
and thus prepare ourselves to "flee from the wrath to come." 

This " wrath to come," requires a word of explanation. Many- 
are in the habit of supposing that the Divine wrath is meant, 
when in truth no such quality as wrath ever did or could exist in 
the Divine mind. It sprung from the old theological dogma of 
the Atonement, as it is called. That desolating fallacy ascribes 
wrath and cursing to the ^'- first person'''' in the trinity, supposed to 
be the Father, while opposite attributes are assigned to the '■^second 
person,'''' supposed to be the Sou. See for proof the Westminster 
Catechism. Now every one should know that " good will to men," 
and not anything of wrath or cursing, proceeds from our heavenly 
Father. There are, indeed, some phrases in the Word which 
would seem to favor such an idea, when taken in their merely- 
literal import; but this is to stifle every rational or scientific per- 
ception in the mind concerning the E'ivine character, and to assist 
in the crucifixion of the Lord. But the time has arrived when all 
should learn the truth of this, and thus be enabled to perceive 
that it is ordained in the very constitution of man, that all the 
relations of life which are not founded on the princii)le of mutual 
and reciprocal good will, must, by logical necessity, lead to and 
terminate in wrath, when not corrected by regeneration. Thus 
the " wrath to come" may be seen to signify a future harvest of 
the seed we are now sowing, and not any adverse visitation of our 
Father in heaven. " Men do not gather figs from thistles." 

If we look faithfully and fearlessly into the facts of our history 
touching the part the great mass of the people have acted in 
brincino- down upon our country the disorders which now threaten 
to rend it asunder, we shall not be able to avoid taking a seat upon 
one end of the stool of repentance on which we are endeavoring 
to place our enemies. No good can come from a refusal to accept 
a full share of the responsibility that almost invariably attaches to 
each one of the parties in a quarrel. Such a course must retard 
instead of hasten a termination of hostilities. Besides, is it not 
written, that " without repentance there is no reiaission of sins?" 
Then let us no longer seek to hide from view the part that has 
been enacted by even our now loyal citizens in former days. 



36 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



A retrospect of the last quarter of a century will exhibit many 
shortcomings of our own people of the Northern States, in their 
treatment of the slavery question as it came forward for examina- 
tion from time to time in the several departments of ecclesiastical 
and civil adjudication? What have the various bodies of eccle- 
siastics done toward arresting the downward course of affairs 
which like a flood was carrying away all rational regard for the 
industrial interests of the community, and consigning the entire 
laboring class to the deepest depths of degradation and bondage? 
Let their published records of proceedings answer the question. 
So also of a large majority of the different congregational societies, 
whose journals, with the exception of here and there a solitary 
one like that of Theodore Parker, in Boston, would reveal the dis- 
graceful fact that, as watchmen on the walls of Zion, they were 
asleep on their posts, while the enemy was actually rioting within 
the ramparts of their garrison, destroying their armament, spiking 
their heaviest guns, and preparing to overwhelm them all in one 
grand defeat and captivity. In the halls of Congress a spectacle 
equally sad was for a long period exhibited. In both branches of 
the national Legislature, the gravest discussions were interrupted 
by clamor, while the revolver, the bowie knife and bludgeon were 
substituted for the weapons of truth and reason. In the Senate 
chamber, the courtly and polished Sumner was stricken down in 
his seat by an assassin's blows. In the House of Representatives, 
the burning words of " the old man eloquent,' the venerable John 
Quincy Adams, were like speaking in the face of a tempest, or 
were stifled with ribald scoffs and jeers from opposing members. 
The sacred right of petition was in effect denied to the people, by 
refusing to refer their petitions to the appropriate committees, and 
by laying them on the table Avithout even a reading. Congress 
thus put on the character of a mob, while mobs became fashiona- 
ble sport for the rowdy denizens of nearly all of our principal 
town and cities. Printing presses were destroyed. Editors and 
public lecturers were maltreated and sometimes murdered. Add 
to all this the cruel hatred, contempt and scorn of multitudes of 
the people toward that defenceless and unoffending class of slaves, 
who unresistingly accepted every possible outrage at their hands; 
and we shall have the picture of a pandemonium in the midst of 



WAR OF SECESSION". 



37 



American society, which would require the graphic powers of a 
Milton or a Dante to adequately portray. Shall there not be a 
wailing in all the land for iniquities like these? Well might Mr. 
Jefferson say, as he did long ago, " I tremble for my country wlien 
I reflect that God is just." Yet Mr. Jefferson was stigmatized as 
an "infidel" by certain theological dignitaries in those days, who 
experienced no trembling whatever for the fate of the country. 

Say we not truly, then, when we affirm that the whole catalogue 
of woes now bearing down upon our people are traceable directly 
to the teachings of a false theology? Where else can the respon- 
sibility be laid? We have already shown that all rational ideas 
concerning the unity of God were obliterated from the tenets of 
that theology, by the doctrine of a trl-personality. This closing 
up of the human mind against all reception of intelligence and 
thought concerning unity in its highest manifestation to man, 
makes it impossible for him to receive any true perception of unity 
whatevei". The unity of the American people, therefore, has yet 
to appear. 

The means for gathering into one and cementing with a perma- 
nent and everlasting bond of unity the people of the United States, 
as well as those of every kindred, tongue and nation under heaven, 
have been amply provided. But the blessings of unity never could 
be known, much less appreciated and enjoyed, by man, but by 
contrast and comparison with the opposite state of discord and 
fierce conflict. This doctrine of opposites deserves our most par- 
ticular-attention. It is only by means of contrasting and com- 
paring the opposite sensations of pleasure and pain which we have 
experienced, that we can be made conscious of any enjoyment 
whatever. Reflect upon it, and you will perceive that it is so. 
Look abroad throughout the whole domain of outlying nature, as 
well as within yourself, observing any and every fact of your own 
individual consciousness, and you will be convinced of the great 
use of this doctrine of opposites, and so become reconciled to that 
order of creation which requires that we first learn to suffer some 
privation of pleasure before we can be made capable of enjoying 
a more full measure of delight. This is a necessity of creation. 
The fact of our being creatures, deriving our life continually from 
the Creator, makes it necessary that we experience such changes 



38 PHILOSOPnY OF THE 



of State. They all take place under the Divine auspices, and are 
used as means of our advancement to higher and better conditions 
of life. Kegeneration is effected by means of these changes of 
of state, these alternate experiences of pleasure and pain, joy and 
sorrow, delight and disgust, hope and fear, exaltation and humil- 
iation, triumph and despair. Those who do not pass through 
them, but remain content with present attainments, absorbed in 
the work of providing for their physical and personal comfort, are 
they who are referred to in the book of Psalms, chap. Iv., v. 19, 
where it is written: "Because they have no changes, therefore 
they fear not God." In this divine truth we have the philosophy 
of "suFrERiNG" — that "stone," that "tried stone," that "chief 
corner stone," — which the theological builders have rejected, in 
their total perversion of the truth of the " atonement." In their 
dogma on this subject they affirm that the sufferings of the Lord 
were endured in oar stead, that is, He suffered as a substitute for 
us, in order that we might be made exempt from suffering. Now 
it must be plain to all rational minds, that whoever is exempt from 
the suffering alluded to must, by that very tact, be exempt also 
from every capacity for enjoyment, which would be tantamount to 
an exemption from all the blessedness which constitutes the sum 
total of spiritual or everlasting life. 

When this is understood and acknowledged, the reader will be 
prepared to look hopefully and cheerfully upon all the sufferings 
that mankind ever has been, or ever shall be, called upon to endure. 
He will perceive that the end of all human suffering is an enlarge- 
ment of the capacity for enjoyment, a preparation for the reception 
of new gifts of life, in which, according to the good old apostolic 
phrase, those "light afflictions, enduring but for a moment, shall 
work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 
He will be prepared to view the present national discords which 
now so seriously disturb the public order, as harbingers only of 
that serene peace and perfect content flowing from a state of unity, 
which is yet to be inaugurated among us, as surely as God rules 
the universe. His "sorrow will be turned into joy," as the dense 
darkness which now blackens our political horizon shall be pene- 
trated by the gray streaks of light, announcing the dawn of a new 
day, whose splendors shall transcend the ability of man to conceive. 



WAR OF SECESSION. 



39 



We have already referred to the uses of evil, which is the sole 
cause of every human suffering. But the introduction of evil into 
the world was not the result of accident or a mistake of the Al- 
mighty. It is no hindrance to any part of the Divine plan — if 
He who is Order itself can be said to have any plan. Almost any 
prudent husbandman knows how to turn to good account the ma- 
nure of his barn-yard, the oflal of his farm. Think you not that 
the great Husbandman of the universe is fully as wise in the ap- 
propriation and disposition of evil or sin, to which such offal cor- 
responds ? There is no more of sin permitted to show itself in 
the world than can be overruled and made to operate as a fertilizer 
of the ground whereon is produced every Divine plant in Eden's 
mystic garden. It is written: " The wrath of man shall praise 
Him ; the remainder He restrains." It is not the si7is of men that 
stand in the way of their salvation. Men are easily saved from 
their sins. The great barrier to salvation is their fancied right- 
eoimiess, preventing a confession and true repentance of any one 
specific sin. 

If theologians would but cease uttering their dry generalities 
concerning " the exceeding sinfulness of sin," and show cleanly 
in what it is that sin really consists, and what God has done and 
is doing for the remission of sins, they would become powerful 
instruments in the Divine hand for the emancipation of our people 
from the bondage they are under to sin and f ilsehood in every 
possible form of manifestation. But they have freely chosen their 
path, and cannot now be turned from it. They must be left to 
pursue their course to its end, while the great mass of the people 
are being awakened to give attention to these important matters. 
Then shall be revealed the truth that there are those now looked 
upon as Jirst in the great scale of human life, whose proper place 
will be among the last to enter into that glorious life which has 
been divinely prepared for all the children of God. 

The first and chief preparation for entrance into the new life is 
to learn the truths of the Word. These truths are spiritual in 
their essence, and therefore are not in every case obvious in the 
literal text, until after instruction concerning the quality of the 
Word, the principle of unity which pervades it throughout, and 
which makes it also one with all the outward works of creation. 



40 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



coramonly called the works of nature. The unity of God and 
Man in Nature is the key to the science of unity, and this is found 
only iu the Word. This deserves something more than a general 
statement; for it is the more fully illustrated and abundantly con- 
firmed as we enter into the numerous particulars of which the 
general truth is composed, even to the most singular or single 
particles of every particular truth. A similar order pervades the 
material creation as that which is found in the written Word ; for 
all the works of nature are arranged in the order of genera, species 
and individual objects or atoms. Nature has thus its trinity in 
unity, and reflects a cei-tain image of its Creator, as portrayed in 
the written Word. These infinitely varied expressions of the 
Divine Human countenance are what constitute the peculiar charm 
in the matchless form and features of the virgin Daughter of Zion, 
(the love of celestial truth), rendering her the "Perfection of 
Beauty." She is therefore to be waited upon and courted with 
infinitely more assiduity and profound respect than an enamored 
lover would woo and win a favorable reception from the adored 
mistress of his affections, if the lover would gain encouragement 
to his suit, or even listen to the celestial music of her divine voice. 

It is an axiom in the science of unity, that each and every indi- 
vidual thing in the created universe exists, not for its own sake, 
but as subservient to some other thing outside of or apart from 
itself. For instance, the mineral kingdom of the earth is sub- 
servient to the production of a vegetable kingdom, both of v^'hich 
are subordinate to the subsistence of an animal kingdom, while 
all the three exist for the sake of man, the chief and crowning 
work of creation. This primary natural truth thus reflects to us 
the image of a primary spiritual truth, viz.: that self- abnegation^ 
or devotion to the welfare of others, is a universal law of heaven 
and earth. It is the cardinal Christian doctrine of self-denial 
reflected from the face of Nature, attesting the unity of Nature 
and Revelation, and repeating or echoing the Divine voice from 
the Word, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" 

Now this primary or general truth is reiterated in every one of 
the particular and singular truths which form that series ; for the 
truths of the Word, like the works of Nature, are divinely arranged 
in serial order. Take as example any natural work, a tree, for 



WAR OF SECESSIOJT. 



41 



instance : A leaf from any tree, when held up between the light 
and the eye, presents an exact image of the tree itself, with its 
trunk, branches, twigs and leaves ; and what is most wonderful, 
the smallest particle of the leaf, whyn subjected to the magnifying 
power of a microscope, will repeat the image of the tree, showing 
that a similar order pervades the smallest atom as that which rules 
in the largest body. So, also, in the Word, the first and greatest 
of its truths, the Divine Unity, or the unity of God and Man in 
the one person of our Lord Jesus Christ, is repeated in an infinite 
variety of truths belonging to that series. Take, as an example, 
one of the Lord's parables, that of tte Good Samaritan, as it is 
commonly called : 

"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell 
among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded 
him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 

"And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; 
and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 

" And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and 
looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 

" But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was : 
and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 

" And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil 
and wine, and set hitn on his own beast, and brought him to an 
inn, and took care of him. 

" And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, 
and gave them, to the host, and said unto him. Take care of him : 
and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will 
repay thee." 



This charming parable belongs in the series which treats of the 
Divine Incarnation, the descent of Jehovah God to the conditions 
of a Natural Man on earth. In it is imaged forth an entire view 
of that wonderful event, precisely as a dew-drop images forth the 
whole canopy of heaven, with its golden sunlight and bright fleecy 
clouds by day, and its silvery moon and stars by night. To give 
anything like a full explication of its internal sense would require 
many volumes. Indeed it could not be given in any number of 
volumes, because, as it embodies Infinity, it is inexhaustible. The 
parable, therefore, is the only appropriate medium through which 
an idea of its co' .tents can be communicated to the human mind. 

6 



42 PHILOSOPHY OF THE 



Jerusalem was the metropolis of the Holy Land — its center, 
where the Temple was erected, and whither the tribes of Israel 
went up on periodical pilgrimages. Jerusalem therefore repre- 
sents the inmost of the heavens, from which the Lord descended, 
or " went down." Jericho was a city on the river Jordan, which 
was the boundary line of the Holy Land, and therefore represents 
the ultimate, natural and most external plane of human life. " A 
certain man went down," etc, is therefore understood. 

The treatment received at the hands of the thieves, presents a 
summary view of the sufferings endured by the Son of Man from 
all those who appropriate to themselves the goodness and truth or 
virtue and intelligence, which proceed from the Lord alone ; as is 
the case with all who deny that the Lord is Life in Itself, and 
thus ignore the Divine Humanity. The priest and the Levite are 
representative of the church as it was at the period of the First 
Advent. The Samaritan represents the Gentile world, who laid 
no claim to divine virtues of any kind, and did not esteem them- 
selves as particularly good or holy. It was among these latter, 
however, that the first Christian church was established, while 
the church as it was became — just what it is at this day. 

But all the wonderful arcana of the Word goes for nothing with 
those who will not ask to have their eyes opened and their ears 
unstopped. Others, however, who desire to be made acquainted 
with the infinite wonders contained in the Word, and to receive 
their spiritual sight, will be greatly aided in approaching the Lord, 
who alone can confer these gifts, by consulting the luminous and 
voluminous pages of that most neglected and despised of modern 
writers — the gifted seer Swedenborg. 

But let it be carefully noted by the reader, that what was seen 
by Swedenborg, or what John in the island of Patmos saw, or 
what any one else ever saw, can be of no possible avail to him, 
unless he first receive the gift of spiritual sight from the Lord 
Jesus Christ alone. 

The Lord has reserved to himself the office of interpreting His 
Word. The law according to which the Word is written was 
indeed made known to Swedenborg, but that fact conferred upon 
him no power to enlighten the mind of any other person. This 
should be borne in mind by the students of that gifted writer, 



WAR OP SECESSION. 



43 



if they would avoid a sectarian tendency which has been conspic- 
uously manifested among those commonly known as " Swedenbor- 
gians.'''' No stronger protest against religious sectarism is to be 
found in any language than that which marks every page of Swe- 
denborg's works, testifying from beginning to end the truth of 
the Unity now under consideration. This fact shows the obdurate 
tenacity with which the unregenerate mind clings to ancient pre- 
judices, even after an intellectual demonstration of their fallacy 
and evil tendency has been abundantly given, and should suggest 
the propriety of that prayer in the book of Psalms, xxxix. 4: 
"Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, 
what it is; that I may know how frail I am." The disciples who 
had been for a long time in company with the Master could make 
nothing from the written Word, until He who was the "Word made 
flesh had " opened their understanding that they might understand 
the scriptures." John, xxiv. 45 : " And beginning at Moses, and 
all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the 
things concerning himself" Luke, xxiv. 27. But it is plainly set 
forth in one of the visions shown to John, as recorded in the fifth 
chapter oi Revelation, that the Lord himself is the only interpreter 
of His Word. Read and ponder it well. It is as follows : 



"And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a 
book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. 

" And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who 
is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? 

" And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, 
was able to Open the book, neither to look thereon. 

" And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open, 
and to read the book, neither to look thereon. 

"And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the 
Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to 
open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." 



This teaches us to put all theologies, whether new or old, with 
all theologians and commentaries, in their proper places, while it 
refers us to the only Expositor of the written Word capable of 
imparting the instruction of which all stand in the greatest need. 
That Divine Expositor is even now in our midst, and is awaiting 
with an insatiable patience our invitation for His instructions. 



44 



PHILOSOniY OF THE 



On this firm basis we build our hopes and anticipations of that 
brighter day for our people, and for all people, that is about to be 
ushered in upon the earth. The events of all our history have 
conspired to prepare us for the change, and He who has conducted 
us thus far will be with us to the consummation. The conclusion 
of the whole matter is plain : Let each and every one remain in 
the position in which they find themselves placed by the Divine 
Providence, and pursue wiih patient industry the various callings 
whereto they have been called, trusting in the Lord alone, and 
performing all their duties with reference to the Divine law rather 
than from any thoughts of emolument or the honors that come 
from their fellow men. They will doubtless have some suffering 
to endure, but every pang will be followed by a joy unspeakable. 
They will experience the truth that Infinite Mercy " tempers the 
wind to the shorn lamb," in every case of suffering — that not so 
much as a sparrow falls without the Father's notice, and that even 
the hairs of the head are numbered — filling the heart and mind 
with ineffable contentment, while from the inmost soul will gush 
forth the most rapturous hosannas of a Divine adoration. 



Nearly twenty-five years ago, we published at Columbus, Ohio, 
the Laborers' Advocate, and subsequently at Cincinnati and in 
New York city, the New Industrial World, in both of which pa- 
pers the views we have herein given were set forth in substance; 
but from the tempest of vehement denunciation of the subject 
which was then sweeping over the land, the public mind could 
not be brought to a consideration of such matters, and we were 
compelled to discontinue both publications. In those papers the 
present aspect of our political affairs is predicted as a logical ne- 
cessity or product of causative elements then at work, although 
the time when these events should occur was not given. We 
have lived to witness their denouement, and hence have written 
what we conceive to be a true Philosophy of the War of Seces- 
sion, and an intimation of the Destiny of the American Union. 



APPENDIX. 



45 



-A.I>P»ENIDIX. 



A SOLDIER'S PRAYER. 



Reoorded. as a Testimony to the Cliurclies. 



" come, let us worship and bow down ; let us kneel before 
the face of Jehovah, our Maker. 



O Lord, our heavenly Father, who art the One only Source and 
Fountain of Life, yea, Lifk in Itself, and who, for our sakes, 
hast tasted Death ; who dost reveal thyself in thy holy Word as 
" The First and the Last," as " He that liveth and was dead, and 
behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen ; and have the keys of 
hell and of death;" we would draw nigh unto thee as the sole 
Dispenser of Life to each one of thy creatures, according to the 
measure of their varied capacities for receiving the same ; implor- 
ing that these our capacities may be so enlarged and quickened 
as to render us conscious of thy inflowing life, and that we may 
be empowered from thee to walk uprightly and reverently in all 
things in the way of thy Law ; and especially at this time and on 
this occasion do we supplicate thy blessing while go forth in de- 
fense of our National Government against the violent assaults of 
its enemies, believing as we do that this Government is the work 
of thy hand, and the highest and clearest political expression of 
thy great Law of good will to men that this world has ever yet 
seen ; and to this end we pray that we may be divested of, and 



46 APPENDIX. 



purified from, all that rashness and misnamed valor which have 
their root in mere self-love and desire for self-aggrandizment, and 
that we and our entire array may be inspired with that true cour- 
age which springs from trust in thee and reliance upon thy holy 
Word, that we may thus be armed with the power of thy Might 
to vanquish the common foe. 

But it becomes us, O Lord, before invoking these blessings, that 
we make full confession of our sins and shortcomings, especially 
those that have emboldened our enemies to take up arms against 
us: We have, in our individual and collective csipacity, been 
unmindful of the truth that " thou hast made of one blood all the 
nations of the earth," and that all men are equal in thy sight ; we 
have therefore forgotten that our matchless form of government 
was thy gift to us, and we have even turned it from its holy pur- 
pose of measuring equal and exact Justice to all, into an instru- 
ment of.cruel oppression toward millions of our fellow creatures; 
we have, in our Ecclesiastical, State and National Councils, turned 
a deaf ear to the prayers of these suffering millions, refusing to 
consider their petitions; while individually we have borne ourselves 
toward them with hatred, contempt and scorn ; and we have per- 
mitted the humane advocates of the rights of the down-trodden 
to be visited with a persecution like that which unbelieving Jews 
of old persecuted the Prophets whom thou didst send to them ; 
and that for these heinous sins our enemies have been permitted 
to rise up against us, inflanled with wrath, and to menace our very 
existence as a people. 

Yet, O Lord, we are encouraged to hope in thy great mercy, 
and to implore thy deliverance from these great sins and their evil 
consequences ; that we may be speedily returned to our respective 
places of abode and our orderly avocations, better prepared to 
appreciate and enjoy those blessed institutions which have fostered 



APPENDIX. 



47 



among us Schools and Churches and thrifty Industry, with all the 
concomitants of a peaceful prosperity, and that we may theqcefortli 
labor with greater diligence for the extension of these blessings 
tintil every individual in the land shall be a full partaker thereof, 
and shall learn to call upon thy great Name, when all the inhabit- 
ants of the earth shall join in one grand anthem of praise to thee, 
" Our Father, who art in heaven ; hallowed be thy name; thy 
kingdom come ; thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven ; 
give us day by day our daily bread ; and forgive us our trespasses 
as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into 
temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, the 
power, and the glory, forever. Amen." 



This prayer was offered up at midniglit, on the night ot the 28th 
of November, 1862, from our camp at Moscow, Tennessee, while 
the troops were preparing to move on the following morning against 
the enemy at Holly Springs, Mississippi, by 

Your fellow servant, 

John White, 

FriTate in Co. D, 72d IlUoois Volvinteers. 







y 



iHiifiS^ ^^ CONGRESS 




013 764 584 1 



IsTOTIOE, 

To those who may take an interest in the matter. 

The author of this little work has served as a private soldier in 
the army since June 14, 1861, with the exception of four months 
while sick in Cook county. 111., from February till June, 1802. 
After serving nine months in the 6th Missouri Volunteers he was 
discharged for disability, returned home and fully recovered his 
accustomed good health. On the President's call for more troops 
last spring he enlisted in the '72d Illinois regiment, and was 
again discharged for disability, February 6, 1863, being perma- 
nently disabled by a chronic disease caused by exposure and 
fatigue during his service. As no pension is provided for such 
cases, he hopes to gain pecuniary means from the sale of his work, 
honestly believing that quid 2)^0 quo is ofi'ered for whatever may 
be realized from its sale. 

He has no agents. He will be his own salesman, which will 
furnish him employment suited to his impaired health and advanced 
period of life, being in the 61st year of his age. 



